GRAMMY-nominated rapper CyHi The Prynce has built a career out of working with some of the biggest names in hip-hop. With nine mixtapes under his belt, and countless featured appearances alongside artists such as Kanye West, 2 Chainz, Kid Cudi, and Common, among others, CyHi The Prynce — aka Cydel Young — will drop his debut LP, No Dope On Sundays, on Nov. 17.
"I didn't want to rap about where I am now in life," Young explained to Billboard regarding his songwriting process for No Dope On Sundays. "I wanted to take fans to the beginning of who I am."
That sentiment also informed his decision to heavily feature fellow rapper ScHoolboy Q on the album's lead single, "Movin' Around."
"[ScHoolboy Q] is one of the first genuine people that I met in hip-hop, him and Kendrick Lamar," Young points out. "[He] felt like someone that I hung with [growing up]."
Young also spoke to Billboard at length about his approach to handling the dichotomy between his strict religious upbringing and deeply held faith and the realities of street culture and the trap music scene.
"I have to tell my mom and dad, 'Don't blow my cover. I am undercover for the Lord,'" he said. "We talk about new suggestions for a better way of life. …They don't realize it because I am sitting with the pistols everywhere, I am in there in the trap house with them. But it’s like they have a different type of conversation with me."
Young also touched briefly on the legendary artists who helped him get his start — Beyoncé is credited as the person who convinced Kanye West that she should first sign Young to G.O.O.D. Music back in 2010.
"I believe Jay-Z is the poster child for what every young black man who came from the struggle went through," he said. On the subject of West, Young lauded the Chicago legend's devotion to the creative process. "He keeps me so close [because of] the brainstorming of our projects ... Kanye West and I hear something we like, and we sit down and have a three-hour meeting about it."
